The Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee is holding a hearing on this issue today at Texas Southern University in Houston. One of the committee’s “interim” tasks between legislative sessions is to “study current law governing homeowners associations with respect to ensuring that homeowners are given adequate protections against unfair foreclosures and are given proper channels for redress in case of foreclosure.”

This is at least the second interim committee that has studied this issue. A 1998 panel chaired by former Sen. Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria, found that mandatory-membership HOAs had “banned political signs, children, spouses below a certain age, pets above a certain weight, day-care centers, the use of back doors, pickup trucks and even goodnight kisses on front steps.”

It is the HOAs’ foreclosure authority, however, that has generated the greatest backlash. The push for reforms came to a head after an 83-year-old Houston widow temporarily lost her home over an $814.50 debt.

The Legislature has since adopted some changes in the applicable laws, but homeowner advocates say these steps haven’t gone far enough.